MLS Power Rankings: No change in the top five
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Aug 28, 2018
MLS, Week 26 Results:
Wednesday, August 22
NYCFC 1 NY Red Bulls 1.
Thursday, August 23
Chicago 1 Columbus 1.
Houston 1 FC Dallas 1.
Friday, August 24
Orlando City 1 Atlanta United 2.
LA Galaxy 1 LAFC 1.
Saturday, August 25
Philadelphia 1 New England 0.
Toronto FC 3 Montreal 1.
Sporting KC 2 Minnesota United 0.
Colorado 0 Real Salt Lake 6.
San Jose 2 Vancouver 3.
Sunday, August 26
NY Red Bulls 1 D.C. United 0.
Portland 0 Seattle 1.
Only MLS results are counted in the Power Rankings, which include a team’s record in parentheses (W-L-T) and rank last week.
1. ATLANTA UNITED (16-4-6), 1. Josef Martinez broke the MLS single-season scoring record on his first attempt, scoring his 28th goal for the second-half winner on the road, where Atlanta is 8-2-2. Now, the Five Stripes can concentrate on the Supporters' Shield race, where they hold a two-point lead over the Red Bulls.
2. NY RED BULLS (16-6-4), 2. The Red Bulls finished August with a 3-0-2 record, but they might come to rue their inability to have put away NYCFC with a two-man advantage at Yankee Stadium.
3. FC DALLAS (13-5-7), 3. FCD thought it would get out of Houston with three points after Michael Barrios' goal in the 83rd minute, but a Dynamo equalizer five minutes later cost two precious points. Its lead over Sporting KC in the race for the Western Conference lead is down to one point.
4. NYCFC (14-6-6), 4. Dome Torrent had been concerned about NYCFC's lack of intensity in recent weeks. Overcoming two red cards to earn a draw against the Red Bulls put him in a better mood.
5. LAFC (12-7-7), 5. Laurent Ciman was a surprise omission when he didn't dress in the third El Trafico. Turns out he's headed to French club Dijon.
----------------------------------------------
6. SEATTLE (11-9-5), 7. The Sounders have won seven games in a row. Sporting KC, which now shares the MLS record for consecutive wins in the post-shootout era, will be Sounders' guest on Saturday at CenturyLink Field.
7. SPORTING KC (13-6-6), 9. It was a great month with four straight shutout wins, a first for SKC in a single regular season.
8. COLUMBUS (11-8-7), 8. Niko Hansen's late goal earned the Crew a point at Chicago and a split for the month: 1-1-1. Not good enough, though, if it wants to challenge the big three in the Eastern Conference.
9. PORTLAND (10-7-7), 6. It's been a season of streaks for the Timbers: 0-2-3 to start the season, then 10-0-5, but 0-4-0 in the last four games.
10. REAL SALT LAKE (12-10-5), 10. It continues to be scoring by committee. No RSL player has more than eight goals, but the goalscorers in the Rocky Mountain Cup romp -- Damir Kreilach, Jefferson Savarino, Joao Plata, Corey Baird and Albert Rusnak -- all have at least five goals.
----------------------------------------------
11. PHILADELPHIA (11-11-3), 11. With the win, the Union has opened up a seven-point cushion over the seventh-place Revs and completed a season sweep, only the second three-game sweep in its history.
12. VANCOUVER (10-9-7), 14. Yordy Reyna's goal on a free kick through the Quakes' wall started the 'Caps on their second-half comeback. In nine minutes, they turned a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead.
13. LA GALAXY (10-9-8), 13. A 1-1 tie against LAFC was a marked improvement on the 5-0 loss at Seattle the previous weekend, but the Galaxy dropped to sixth place with Portland and Vancouver, which are only a point behind with three games and one game in hand, respectively.
14. MONTREAL (10-14-3), 12. The Impact conceded three goals in the first 29 minutes to Toronto FC. "We were too soft coming into this game," admitted midfielder Samuel Piette.
15. D.C. UNITED (7-10-6), 15. The loss at the Red Bulls shouldn't dampen the mood around United. It should make the playoffs if it continues to win at Audi Field. It has five home games in hand on Montreal and New England, the two teams ahead of it in the race for the sixth-place spot in the Eastern Conference.
----------------------------------------------
16. TORONTO FC (7-12-6), 17. Two goals from Sebastian Giovinco and a third from Lucas Janson put the game at Montreal out of reach early. TFC now trails the sixth-place Impact by only six points with two games in hand though all those D.C. United games in hand will be tough to simultaneously overcome.
17. NEW ENGLAND (7-10-8), 16. The Revs have picked up just two points in the last two months. Only Chicago (0-8-1) earned fewer.
18. HOUSTON (7-11-7), 18. Venezuelan Ronaldo Pena equalized two minutes from time with his first MLS goal as the Dynamo snapped a five-game losing streak. The tie was the fifth straight in the Texas Derby series.
19. MINNESOTA UNITED (9-15-2), 19. Five weeks ago, there was talk of the Loons actually challenging for a playoff berth. They are 0-4-1 since then. Oh well ...
20. COLORADO (6-14-6), 20. The Rapids were down two players and two goals at the half. The score only got worse, much worse from there.
----------------------------------------------
21. CHICAGO (6-15-6), 22. The Fire ended its eight-game losing streak, but there was no cause for celebration. It had to settle for a tie on a Crew equalizer in the 87th minute. Now it's in Germany for Bastian Schweinsteiger's testimonial game. It won't play again until Sept. 16.
22. ORLANDO CITY (7-16-2), 21. A rare bright spot has been rookie Chris Mueller, who picked up his sixth assist of the season.
23. SAN JOSE (3-14-8), 23. The Quakes hit bottom, blowing a 2-0 lead at home, where they haven't won in 11 games. “Devastating” is how Chris Wondolowski put it. “I don’t think words can quite describe it right now," he added. "Just a gut punch.”
MLS, Week 27 Schedule:
Wednesday, August 29
NY Red Bulls vs. Houston 8 pm. (ESPN+)
D.C. United vs. Philadelphia 8 pm. (ESPN+)
Portland vs. Toronto FC 10:30 pm. (ESPN+)
San Jose vs. FC Dallas 10:30 pm. (ESPN+)
Saturday, September 1
Seattle vs. Sporting KC 4 pm. (UniMas, UDN)
New England vs. Portland 7:30 pm. (ESPN+)
Montreal vs. NY Red Bulls 7:30 pm. (ESPN+)
Orlando City vs. Philadelphia 7:30 pm. (ESPN+)
FC Dallas vs. Houston 8 pm. (ESPN+)
Columbus vs. NYCFC 8 pm. (ESPN+)
Toronto FC vs. LAFC 8 pm. (ESPN+)
Real Salt Lake vs. LA Galaxy 10 pm. (ESPN+)
Vancouver vs. San Jose 10 pm. (ESPN+)
Sunday, September 2
D.C. United vs. Atlanta United 7:30 pm. (FS1, Fox Deportes)
All times ET.
